)Actually, this one's not that bad of a thread
Not all touchy subject matter has to be shut down and stopped.
Good thread (((bump)))
This is not even close to true anymore. Early in the year (and in years previous) workers who had high scale pay seniority were given early retirement buyouts, which most of them took, expressly so that GM could hire in new workers at rates comparable to the rest of the industry. New line workers make $11-14/hr, and they don't see anything close to the benefit packages that were available in the past.
The unions have made many concessions, honestly the unions aren't the problem that people make them out to be. There's no arguing that the domestic automakers haven't made big mistakes in the past, and are paying for them, but much has been done to turn that around. A bigger problem for GM for example is they have 11-something brands and dealerships that's spread them too thin.
If the auto companies fail, the fallout is going to hit your pocket anyway. If Washington and the big 3 can figure out a viable loan to tide them over, the government can pay $25 million to keep them from bankruptcy or it can pay $100 million in lost tax revenue and unemployment insurance filing.
The auto companies aren't going to "emerge" from bankruptcy successfully. No one is going to buy a car from a bankrupt company. Look at the reputation domestic cars have already as being inferior to foreign cars, even though a quick glance at any JD Power & Associates survey will tell you the quality is evenly distributed.
The worst that will happen is that it will be catastrophic for the American economy, which it would be. If GM folds that's 300 thousand jobs gone. Include in that number the dealerships, part suppliers, secondary manufacturers, repair sites, any of the millions of jobs dependent on the continued existence of GM. If that infrastructure falls apart, Ford and Chrylser go with them. This isn't just 3 little companies you're talking about torpedoing, all of Michigan's economy is completely dependent on these companies. It would decimate the state, whose unemployment is already beyond 9%, and it would be the death-knell for Ohio and Indiana as well.
Our system of government already incorporates some socialistic standards, see: medicare. We do not live in a pure laissez-faire economy, and for good reason. If it were so, the economic disparity between the rich executives and the poorer working class would be exponentially larger.
Quotin' dis because this guy knows his stuff.
Again, MI's unemployment rate is over 9% (the rest of the country is around 6.5%), and Michigan basically has no other industry besides the automakers. If they become destitute so does the entire state. The laid off workers won't "find another job", there won't be other jobs to be had. You're talking economic misery on a massive scale, and to just say "screw them" is to either be ignorant of the consequences or be extraordinarily callous. But even if you look at it aside from a moral issue, the further decline of the economy and the burden such a loss in revenue + unemployment insurance this will put on the government will effect the entire American economy, not just Michigan, and not just the automotive executives.
As stated previously, we don't live in a capitalistic economy. Ours is a mixed economy, where the government has every right to step in to the free market system and impose limits and regulations. Things like mandated minimum wage, and the restriction of monopolies and price-fixing activities. In the case of the wall street bailout, it was the purchase of toxic assets to free up credit liquidity so that commerce wouldn't grind to a complete halt. (What they probably should have done instead was roll out reverse auctions for those assets, which may happen, we'll see.)
Read the thread plz, this is not even close to being accurate. New line workers are paid $11-14 hourly and receive a meager benefits package. The auto companies have lured as many of the senior workers with higher wage tenure to early retirement w/ buyout packages. The unions and the workers aren't the issue here.
